tous vs tua, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tous” is a pronoun and “tua” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,687
“tous” frequency rank: #662
“tua” frequency rank: 44349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tous	tua
Definition	todos, todo mundo.	que tem você como objeto

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tous and tua apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

tous

3 ch

tua

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tous is apronoun and tuaanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tous is recorded at frequency rank #43,687, classified as apron, pronounced /tu/ (diante de consoante), AFI: /tuz/ (diante de vogal e h mudo). tua is at rank #662, tagged as anadj.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 44349, this pair ranks #21,148 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tous vs tua

Shared letters: tu. Private to "tous": os. Private to "tua": a.

"tous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "tua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

tous ← otus · tosu · touss · ttous · tuos

Frequency comparison

tous#43,687

tua#662

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tous" and "tua" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tous" is a pronoun and "tua" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tous" or "tua"?

"tua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #662 in our Portuguese list, against #43,687 for "tous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tous vs tua

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “tous”; for an adjective, it's “tua”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tous” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable